


Five Times Marion Lavorre Thought She Could Read People, And The One Time She Actually Did

by xLoveMx



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Pre Relationship, Widojest - Freeform, marion approves, widojest hiatus prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:35:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23584723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xLoveMx/pseuds/xLoveMx
Summary: Marion Lavorre had always been able to read people well.
Relationships: Caduceus Clay & Jester Lavorre, Fjord & Jester Lavorre, Jester Lavorre & Beauregard Lionett, Jester Lavorre & Nott, Jester Lavorre & Yasha, Jester Lavorre/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 17
Kudos: 268





	Five Times Marion Lavorre Thought She Could Read People, And The One Time She Actually Did

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the weekly widojest hiatus prompt "Marion"
> 
> Guys, this got way longer than I intended...but I actually kinda love it? xD Anyway, enjoy x

Marion Lavorre had always been able to read people well. It had been a gift, but also one she had perfected over the years and through her job. It was important to be able to tell what people wanted, and also whether they were all bark and no bite, or if it was better to stay away from them entirely.

She had also always been able to read Jester like an open book, despite not being able to spend a lot of time with her. She would often watch her whenever she could, seeing as she ran around the chateau, dancing, smiling or sometimes just sat and painted.

It had become a habit, watching her, and even though Jester had changed in the time she had been gone, Marion still found it easy to read her daughter.

The people she had brought home the last time had seemed great, too. All with their own problems and secrets of course, but they had been taking care of Jester, and that was all Marion had needed to know. Sadly, their departure had been as quick and surprising as their arrival, but this time around they seemed to be staying for a little while longer.

She was glad to have Jester home, and her friends too. It was interesting, to learn more about them and how her darling daughter acted around them.

**1.**

Fjord, she had noticed during their first encounter, was a gentleman through and through. He didn’t seem like he came from a background of nobility, but Marion was sure he would perfectly fit in if he was dropped into that world.

Jester, she had noticed the first time around, seemed to carry an admiration for it. It wasn’t subtle at all, with how she stared at him across the table, laughter falling from her lips at his words. He didn’t reciprocate the feeling, though Marion could tell that Fjord had become fond of her daughter’s presence.

He always seemed to be watching her, too. Not with a yearning, but just to make sure that she was okay.

“Jester I don’t think using _Thaumaturgy_ to open all the windows is a good idea. We can’t afford to have them replaced,”

Jester was making a face at him from across the table, and she would have probably poked her tongue out at him too, if it hadn’t been for the wizard, who pushed one of his books in front of her.

“Do you want to draw some dicks in my books?”

“Cay-leb, it’s no fun if you let me do it.” She replied, and then the wizard was raising an eyebrow.

“So, you don’t want to?” He asked, and Jester, a smile on her lips now, rolled her eyes.

“Of course, I want to, gimme!”

**2.**

Yasha was a quiet one. Marion had taken a liking to her, and she wasn’t even sure why. She had joined them after another one of her performances, having decided to not take any suitors until later in the evening. She had watched the barbarian during the performance, and it had been great fun, to say the least. Yasha hadn’t been able to see her perform before, and she seemed to be entranced by the Ruby of the Sea.

Not that Marion found that to be a new experience, but it was endearing still. She felt…adored, but in a different way than usual.

“Isn’t my Mama wonderful?” Jester was smiling as she nodded towards Yasha, whose cheeks were tinted red. “I mean, she’s beautiful, don’t you think Yasha? This is what you miss when you don’t hang around us all the time,”

“I…yeah. Jester,” Yasha muttered as she attempted to keep her eyes on Marion so she wouldn’t seem impolite. To Marion’s amusement it only made her blush more.

“Come on, you haven’t said that my Mama is beautiful,” Jester insisted, poking Yasha’s ribs, and Marion was close to intervening, when Caleb intercepted.

“Your mother is very beautiful Jester,” He nodded, meeting Marion’s eyes for a moment. “And you have certainly inherited her charm, but not her tact.”

Raising an eyebrow at him, Jester now turned her attention away from Yasha, who seemed to be more than glad about it.

“Are you insulting me, Caleb?”

“I would never,” He replied, and though there was teasing in his voice, there was honesty in his eyes.

“Well, I guess it’s fair. I called you stinky for way longer than you actually were,” Jester laughed, and most of her friends at the table joined in.

**3.**

Beauregard was different.

She was loud and quick to express her opinion, and while it was the complete opposite of Yasha, Marion liked her all the same. She seemed to be very protective of Jester, too. Much like Fjord she was always watching Jester from the corner of her eye, just making sure that she was alright. When she wasn’t watching Jester, her eyes were on Yasha.

There was something there, something that wasn’t fully fleshed out, but Marion could see the curious beginnings. The awkward touches and occasional smiles thrown into the other’s direction.

It was endearing.

“I’m sorry Beau, I tried really hard to find Professor Thaddeus, but he seems to be nowhere in sight.” Jester sighed, biting down on her lip. Marion was watching from where she had settled down into a chair, as her daughter came rushing back in, face red and on the brink of tears.

“I looked everywhere. I even went to every shop that sells pets, but he seems to have just vanished,”

“Jester, hey. It’s fine, uh.” Beau replied, still not quite sure how to deal with tears, and so she attempted to avoid them. “It’s fine like…he was pretty grumpy. He probably found a good spot to just…sit and judge people.”

“But I wanted to bring him back to you, I mean…Nugget is here, but we’ll have to leave him, and you could have had Professor Thaddeus with you,”

Marion would have offered to purchase another owl, because she hated seeing Jester in such distress, but then there was a sudden _POOF_ and a tiny owl appeared on her daughter’s shoulder.

“Frumpkin,” Beau couldn’t help but say, and Jester’s frown easily turned into a smile.

“Oh, hello you,” She petted the small creature, before turning to Caleb, who was seated across the room.  
“I had him turn into an owl, just in case.” He muttered, glancing between Jester and Beau. “You can…borrow him for the rest of the week. He will listen to you,” He then added, and Jester’s smile seemed to become even brighter as she took Frumpkin, and then handed him over to Beau.

**4.**

Nott seemed to be the one Jester was closest to, and strangely enough it seemed like she was the one with the most secrets, even though you wouldn’t know about it at first glance. Jester and she were always together, laughing and talking, and when Marion left her room one morning to go downstairs for breakfast, she almost stumbled over her own feet as Nott zoomed by her in the corridor.

“Nott! Wait!” Jester was right behind her, stumbling through the hallway. Her legs were much longer, but she still didn’t seem to be able to keep up with the goblin lady.

“I am not getting into the pool with you, Jester!” Nott was calling over her shoulder as she darted on.

“Come on! It will be fun! I finally have time to teach you how to swim! Just think about the future! I am sure we will need to be on a boat again soon!”

Marion remembered the stories Jester had told of their last sea voyage, which had led them out of Nicodranas and into the open sea.

“Nooo!” promptly came the reply, and Marion watched as Nott darted around Caleb, who had stepped out of his room, a book in hand. Jester’s reflexes weren’t as quick though, so by the time she had reached the wizard, it was too late to get out of the way.

They both collided with a squeak, and Marion wasn’t quite sure whether it came from Caleb or her daughter. The book went flying through the air and while Nott had darted around the next corner, Jester had landed on top of Caleb.

“What…?” he groaned, raising an eyebrow as Jester was staring down at him. “What was that?”

“I was going to teach Nott how to swim, but she didn’t want me to,” Jester complained, but made no move to get off the wizard.

“Well, hell has no fury like a goblin not wanting to get wet, right?” He chuckled and found Jester swatting at his shoulder.

“I just wanted to help.” She then shrugged her shoulders, as best as that was possible considering she was still on top of him. “Cay-leb, can’t you talk to her? She won’t regret it. It’ll be fun,”

There was pause, in which Caleb couldn’t help but laugh. “Fine, blueberry. I’ll do my best,”

**5.**

Caduceus was an interesting one. He was quiet most of the time, but his quiet was different than Yasha’s, Marion had noticed. He had stories to tell, too. Surprisingly there were a lot of them, especially for someone who had spent most of his life in a graveyard, if she had understood correctly.

It was also interesting to watch that Jester was incredibly protective of him. Surely, they all protected each other in some way, but Jester seemed to be the one who was most watched over, but in this case, she was the one who did the watching.

Whenever Caduceus seemed to get too quiet, sitting in a corner by himself, Jester would wander over and talk to him. Sometimes she’d tell stories, gesture around and laugh, and sometimes she’d just sit with him, one arm wrapped around his shoulder, and talk quietly about anything she could think of.

It was interesting to watch, for sure.

One evening Marion had finished her performance, and everyone was getting positively tipsy, she found Caduceus sitting in a corner, just watching all of his friends. Jester had tried talking to him, but whatever she had said, it didn’t seem to have helped all that much.

_You can’t always help everyone,_ Marion had wanted to say, but then Caleb had pulled Jester aside.

“I brought some milk,” He smiled, and Jester looked up at him, a curious look on her face.

“For me?” She then asked, glancing down at the two glasses in his hands.

“Ja, and for him,” He nodded towards Caduceus. “Just…sit with him for a while, ja? Give him the milk, let me deal with the others.”

Somewhere across the room, Fjord was unsuccessfully attempting to keep Beau from climbing onto one of the tables.

“Sometimes it’s the small things, you know?” He then continued. “Just…knowing that someone is there. Not because you want to talk, but because you could if you changed your mind,”

Jester’s lips curved into a smile as she nodded, taking the glasses from him.

“Thank you, Caleb!” And with that she quickly pressed her lips to his cheek and was gone again.

**+1**

It was much later in the evening, when Marion returned downstairs. Her suitor for the night had retired, and she wanted to check in on Jester and the others. The bar area had emptied out, though there were still a few patrons around.

Fjord and Nott had settled down, playing some sort of card game, though it looked like both of them were a little too drunk to understand the rules. Beau and Yasha were at another table, giggling as they watched the tiny owl wobble up and down.

She noticed Caleb at the foot of the stairs, watching Jester and Caduceus, who were quietly talking now, milk glasses empty.

She watched for a moment too, and when she came to a halt next to the wizard, the dots in her mind finally connected.

“Oh,” She couldn’t help but say, her lips curving into a soft smile. “It’s the little things, am I right?”

That seemed to eventually catch Caleb’s attention and he turned to look at her. “Like distracting someone, letting them draw in their books, making sure they aren’t sad. Catching them whenever they fall, or nudging them into the right direction,”

Caleb’s cheeks were tinted a soft red now, and he shrugged his shoulders. “Is it that obvious?”

Marion chuckled, shaking her head. “On the contrary, young man.”

“Do you…mind?” It felt like a stupid question, because he had been in love with Jester for so long, and he had never expected anything to come of it, but there was still a part of him that wanted Marion’s approval somehow.

“Do I mind that you love my daughter?” She then smiled, shaking her head. “Just…give me a minute,” And with that she had descended the rest of the stairs, gracefully making her way over to where the bad was seated. She had remembered something Jester had told her not a long time ago. It had been part of their adventures, just a tiny fragment, but Marion never forgot a thing.

She whispered to the musicians, and shortly after something familiar started playing. Caleb was confused for a moment, but before he could react, Jester had gotten up from her seat and crossed the room to tug on his sleeve.

“Caleb! It’s a waltz! Come dance with me!” She was smiling. “You might not remember this, but we danced a waltz before, you were really drunk,” A chuckle fell from her lips as she pulled him into the middle of the bar before beginning to sway around.

“No…no, I do remember. Vaguely,” He replied, feeling his heart beating just a little faster in his chest. He did remember the way she had felt pressed against him, her familiar smell and how he had felt dizzy from something that wasn’t the alcohol.

“Well, this you will remember,” Jester nodded as she spun him around, and Caleb couldn’t help but laugh. Of course, she was still leading.

His eyes caught sight of Marion over Jester’s shoulder then, and the fact that she was smiling made something warm explode inside his chest.

“Hey, my eyes are down here, Cay-leb,” Jester teased with a chuckle, and Caleb simply pulled her a little closer as they danced a proper waltz this time.


End file.
